Rly closes reservation counter in Shillong

SHILLONG, April 4 ? The Meghalaya Transport Minister, Cyprian R Sangma, on Wednesday said the NF Railway had closed down the Shillong Public Railway Reservation Counter as the Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) had diverted Rs 38,12,800 from the sale proceeds of railway tickets between October 1999 and June 2001, reports PTI. Replying to the call attention motion tabled by EK Mawlong (UDP) in the state Assembly on the misutilisation of the proceeds from the sale of railway tickets by MTC, Sangma admitted that there was misutilisation of railway money and efforts were being made with the railway authorities to open the counter. Clarifying the deal, Sangma said there was an agreement between NF Railway and MTC for running the Public Reservation Service (PRS) by MTC. Accordingly, MTC was entitled to get four per cent commission on the net sale proceeds of railway tickets sold by Shillong PRS. On June 8, 2001, a communication was received from the NF Railway that the MTC did not deposit the sale proceeds generated by the Shillong PRS to the railway account since October 1999. Instead, MTC had deposited the amount in its own account. A report was accordingly sought from the MTC. The MTC management submitted a report on July 3, 2001 that MTC had diverted some amount of the railway earnings.